Dice agitator



y 7, 1955 A. G. BARNES 2,708,581

DICE AGITATOR Filed Oct. 11, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 1 F IG- 2 INVENTOR.

Alvin G. Barnes 3 Sheets- -Sheet 2 FIG-4 INVENTOR. Alvih G. Barnes May 17, 1955 BARNES 2,708,581

DICE AGITATOR Filed Oct. 11, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Alvin G. Barnes This invention is 'an amusement device and relates more particularly to a mechanical means of positioning a number of playing elements after they have been jug gled.

It is one object of my invention to' provide an amuse? ment device which is adapted to contain a quantity of I playing elements which may be positioned before a window to be viewed by the operator and removed therefrom while other elements are positioned sequentially.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a playing element container having means for shifting the elements and also a manually operated means for inducing movement to the first named means.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a unique cam and cam actuator combination which cooperates to rotate a frame, adapted to position the playing elements, a predetermined fraction of a revolution.

These and other objects of the-invention will become apparent during the course of the following description. Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts,

Figure l is an elevation showing a housing, andzparts;

dotted in position;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the invention; Figure 3 is a cross section taken longitudinally through the tubular compartmented housing as at line 3-3 of Figure l;

Figure 4 is a transverse cross section taken through the tubular housing as at line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a view partially in elevation and partially in cross section longitudinally of the motion producing mechanism;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the 5; and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary view of one-half section of the housing having. its front section removed.

Referring now moreparticularly to the drawing, it will be seen in Figures 1 and 2 that I have provided my invention with a housing indicated in general by the .nu metal 10 which comprises two adjoining portions described as the tubular housingll and the pistol grip housing 12. A triangular rib ,13 joins at its front-end"with the tubular housing11 and is disposed in covering relation to the pistol grip housing 12 to provide a device which is pleasing in appearance and also to lend strength to the portionshown in Figure housing. As indicated in Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that the longitudinal dimension of the tubular. housing 11 is at a right angle to the longitudinal dimension of the pistol grip housing 12, and asindicated by dotted lines the motion producing mechanism 14 is disposed in longitudinal alignment with the pistol grip housing 12 and has its forward end extending into the tubular housing 11.-

V The motion producing mechanism comprises a cylinder 15 which is adapted-to rest in a socket 16 formed onehalf in each of the adjoining sections of the pistol grip housing 12. The outer end 17 of the cylinder is open and butts against a confining wall 18 molded in the hous- States Patent 0 2 ing 12, and this prevents outward movement of the cylinder. The forward end of the cylinder is provided with outstanding diametrically opposed ears 19 which are drilled and tapped to receive bolts 20 adapted to secure a power transmission 21.

The power transmission includes a frame 22 apertured at 23 to receive a bevelled gear 24. A removable cap 25 is secured to the inner end of the frame 22 and together with the frame defines a bearing 26 at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the motion producing mechanism. The bevelled gear 24 is carried by a spindle 27 which extends longitudinally and axially with relation to the motion producing mechanism 14 and has a head 28 disposed within the inner open end of cylinder 15.

Secured to the head 28 by means of a locking pin 29, I have provided a tubular cam 30. As indicated in the drawing, the tubular cam is provided with two helical cam faces 31 which are disposed with their planes at right angles to the axis of the tubular cam. Each face consumes approximately one-half of the arc of the cam and terminates in an axially parallel wall 32 which extends to the leading edge or point 33 of the cam.

To cooperate with cam 30, I have provided a cam actuator 34 which is substantially of the same construction as cam '30 and has helical cam faces 35 which are adapted to move axially toward cam 30, with the faces 35 and 31 meeting, and thus rotate cam 30 one-half revolution.

Adjacent points 36 of cam actuator 34 I have provided a vertical aligned bore in the cam actuator and a plug 37 is secured therein by means of pin 38 which extends through the plug and bores and has its ends slidable in cam slots 39 diametrically opposed in the walls of the cylinder 15. It will be noted that the cam slot 39 is provided with a forward portion 39a which is axially offset from the rear portion 39b. The function of these cam portions is to axially rotate the cam actuator 34 a rela tively small amount to cause the points 33 and 36 to be offset sufiiciently so that subsequent reciprocation of the actautor 34 will cause the cam faces 31 and 35 to meet. To give the cam actuator longitudinal movement axially aligned with cam 30, I have provided an expansion spring 40 disposed between the plug 37 and confining wall 18. The spring thus urges cam actuator 34 into face to face engagement with cam 30 and rotates the cam. It

;, will be understood that any number of cam faces 31 may be supplied as desired to produce the required rotation.

Obviously the cam 30 can rotate only as far as the meeting camfaces 31 and 35 will permit and this is shown to be one-half of a revolution thus imparting a one-half revolution to gear 24.

As it is necessary to shift cam actuator 34 outwardly away from cam 30, I have provided a plunger 41 which extends axially through the spring 40 and is secured at 42 in the plug 37 and slidably passes through a slot 43 formed in confining wall 18. The plunger is provided with a notch 44 in its lower edge and a similar notch 45 in itsupper edge outwardly spaced from notch 44. A latch 46' is provided to vertically tilt the latch 46 and cause lock-' ing pin 49 to enter thenotch 44 and grasp the plunger 41. A push bar 52 is pivotally united on bearing pin of the latch at itsupper end and pivotally united at 53 to a hand trigger 54 pivotally carried at 55 by the pistol grip housing 12, A spring 52 is united with push bar 52 to maintain its upper end tensioned toward the inner end of push bar 41. As trigger 54 is squeezed by one operating the device, it is pivoted rearwardly and exerts pressure on push bar 52 which in turn through latch 46 moves plunger 41 rearwardly or outwardly, locking pin 49 being caught in notch 44. As plunger 41 moves rearwardly, dog 56 drops" Patented May 17, 1955 into notch and prevents inner movement of the plunger in the event full movement is not completed. As the bar 41 moves further outwardly by reason of the manual pressure on trigger 54, the upper portion of latch 46 contacts stop 57 and causes the locking pin 49 to move downward-- ly and the lug 53 to move upwardly. As: thelatch pivots about bearingtpin 50, the lug 58 lifts dog 56 from notch- 45 and the locking pin 49 pivots out of notch 44 and releases the plunger 41,, whereupon spring 40 urges cam actuator 34 inwardly contacting cam 30- androtating the cam and subsequently the spindle and bevelled gear 24.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 3 and 4, it will be seen that the tubular housing 11 is. provided with end plates 59 which are shown to be integral with the housing 11,. and the housing is supplied with an axially extending shaft 60 rigid with the end plates 59'. Extendingparallel with the shaft 69 a portion of the tubular housing is provided with an aperture 61, which may be a series of apertures as shown or a single window, and a transparent covering 62, preferably glass, is disposed. within the housing in covering relation to the aperture 61. As indicated in Figure 3, the end faces of shaft 60 are provided with dia metrically extending ribs 63 which fit into complementary recesses formed in the end plates 59. The shaft 66 isprovided with a flat mounting'face 64 at the ends thereof and banks of involute fingers 65 are secured as by screws to the shaft on these securing faces, and the fingers extend circumferentially of the shaft and terminate spaced from the window or viewing means formed by the aperture 61.

As indicated, a quantity of playing, elements 66 are contained within the tubular housing 11 and each element. is shown to be a die. However, it will be understood that any desirable indicia may be used on the dice and not necessarily that shown. It is necessary to separate each individual die from the others and, therefore, I have formed a rotatable frame 67 which is carried by the shaft 60. The frame comprises spaced circular discs 68 which define compartments within the housing which contain the playing elements with the exception of the central compartment. Bars 69 extend parallel with shaft 60 and. are secured to the adjacent peripheral edge faces of the discs at each side of the central compartment. The bars 69 carry wipers 70 which are disposed to pass through the openings between the fingers 65 and thus comb the fingers as the frame 67 is rotated. It will thus be seen by examining Figure 4 that as the frame 67 is rotated the uppermost die 66 will be wiped off of the fingers 65 and the lowermost die 66 will be moved upwardly and deposited between the window 61 and the finger 65 where it is held by the resiliency of the finger 65. A dummy die 71 is secured to the window 61 at the central compartment and does not change as the frame is revolved.

From the above description it will be understood that it is necessary to revolve frame 67 one-half revolution to position the die in its proper place where it may be viewed through the window 61. It is required that the frame be rotated an exact amount and not be permitted to coast beyond the desired point. The cam mechanism 30 and 34 for producing the motion has previously been described and the means by which the motion produced is transmitted to the frame 67 is the power transmission indicated in general by the numeral 21. This comprises a bevelled gear 72 which meshes at a right angle with bevelled gear 24 and which is rigidly secured to the frame 67 as by welding or other suitable means shown at '73. An axially aligned bevelled gear 74 also meshes with bevelled gear 24, but gear 74 is an idler gear and is journaled by means of a bearing at 75 about sleeve 76 which is rotatable about shaft 60; The sleeve 76 is welded or otherwise secured to the frame 67 and for all practical purposes is a component part of gear 72. Therefore, as bevelled gear 24 and gear 72 are of the came diameter and tooth structure, one-half revolution of gear 24 will impart one-half revolution to gear 72 and thus to frame 67. With the cam faces 31 and the cam actuator faces 35 consuming substantially one-half of the circumference of the tubular elements 30 and 34, it

can easily be seen that the herein described actuation of the motion producing mechanism will rotate the frame one-half revolution and lift one set of dice to the window while removing the other set.

It is not my intention to limit my invention to any particular game, but I wish to claim the invention with all variations thereof which comewithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus describedmy invention, I claim:

1. An amusement, device comprising a tubular housing closed at its ends, a shaft rigid with the housing and extending axially therewith, a frame including a plurality of spaced discs defining compartments and rotatably carried by said shaft, a windowin said housing, a quantity of playing elements bearing indicia in the housing, involute fingers carried by the shaft and outwardly tcrminating spaced inwardly from said window and extending substantially parallel with the plane thereof circum ferentially of said housing, bars secured to said discs at their peripheral edgesv and extending: parallel with said shaft, wipers carried by the bars and radially disposed with relation to said shaft and adapted to comb said fingers whereby said playing pieces are alternately placed and removed from an indicia viewing position between the fingers and said window, power transmitting means carried by said frame for imparting rotating movement thereto, a spindle operably connected to said power transmitting means, a rotatable tubular cam secured to said spindle, a cylinder surrounding said cam, a cam actuator reciprocably carried by said cylinder and adapted to rotate said cam a predetermined amount when shifted inwardly in face to face engagement with said cam, an expansion spring adapted to urge said cam actuator inwardly, and manually operated means for shifting said cam actuator outwardly to compress said spring and release said actuator sequentially.

2. In anamusement device the combination with a tubular housing closed at its ends, an axially disposed shaft in the housing and rigid therewith, said housing having a longitudinally disposed aperture therein, a transparent closing for said aperture through which the interior of the housing may beviewed, support means carried by the shaft and terminating inwardly spaced from said closure, a quantity of playing pieces bearing indicia in said housing, and a revolvable frame journalled in said housing, whereby said playing pieces are alternately removed and positioned upon said support means to be viewed through said aperture, of a manually operated means adapted to revolve said frame comprising a spindle operably connected to said frame to impart rotary movement thereto, a cam carried by said spindle, a spring powered cam actuator disposed to rotate said cam, and manually operated means adapted to tension said spring powered cam actuator and release said actuator whereby the cam is rotated and the frame revolved a predetermined distance.

3 An amusement device comprising a tubular housing having end plates closing the open ends thereof, a shaft rigid with said end plates and extending axially within said housing, a frame including a plurality of spaced discs rotatably carried by said shaft, said discs defining compartments within the housing, a quantity of playing elements bearing indicia contained within the compartments, involute fingers carried by the shaft and outwardly terminating spaced inwardly from the wall of said housing, said housing being provided with means through which the interior may be viewed, said discs being provided with radially disposed wipers carried by bars secured adjacent the peripheral edge of said discs and extending parallel with said shaft, and manually operated means for rotating said frame whereby the playing elements are shifted by said wipers and positioned between said fingers and said means through which the interior may be viewed: for exposing said indicia.

4. An amusement device comprising a housing having Walls and end plates and including a plurality of axially aligned compartments and having means through which the interior of the compartments may be viewed, a quantity of playing elements bearing indicia and contained within the housing, a shaft rigid with the housing and disposed at its axis, involute resilient fingers carried by the shaft and extending circumferentially of said shaft and outwardly'terminating spaced inwardly from said viewing means, wipers terminating spaced from said shaft and carried by diametrically opposed bars extending lor.- gitudinally and rotatable within the housing adjacent the walls thereof, said wipers being disposed to comb said fingers, and manually operated means for rotating said bars whereby the playing elements are shifted by said wipers and positioned between said fingers and said viev.'- ing means for exposing said indicia to view.

5. In an amusement device, a tubular housing closed at the ends and having means through which the interior of the housing may be viewed, an axially disposed shaft in the housing and rigid therewith, involute resilient fingers carried by the shaft and having the outer free ends spaced from the wall of the housing at the means through which the interior of the housing may be viewed, a quantity of playing pieces bearing indicia in the housing and separated one from another, and a revolvable frame in the housing and having wipers adapted to move selected ones of the playing pieces into frictional engagement between said fingers and the housing wall for positioning said pieces for viewing through said housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 464,915 Slinn et al Dec. 8, 1891 484,115 Saxton Oct. 11, 1892 630,830 Houghton Aug. 8, 1899 1,852,992 Abegglen Apr. 5, 1932 2,103,009 Klein Dec. 21, 1937 

